If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Re: Fall Feeding ? 2:1

Hi Sally, You're pretty far south so technically it may still be "summer" for you. My understanding is that as the bees prepare for winter they do several things. Namely they build up stores and they build a population of "winter bees". The foragers of late summer and early fall do not survive the winter. So late summer/early fall is brood rearing of the winter bees. Even though the total hive population is beginning to drop, new bees that will live several months instead of weeks are being reared. Right now (southeast USA) the bees need pollen and nectar to feed that brood. I am feeding 1:1 for a few more weeks, until say the end of September here in nothern VA. Then I will switch to 2:1 for October until I see they stop taking it. If there is no fall flow going on where you are and the bees don't have a pollen source, you might consider pollen supplement too. Goldenrod is going crazy near my hives right now now and the girls are working their little heads off foraging. It almost looks like the spring flow in front of my hives.